Impacts of Canada's cannabis legalization on police-reported crime among youth: early evidence

Russell C. Callaghan; Julia Vander Heiden; Marcos Sanches; Mark Asbridge; Andrew Hathaway; Stephen J. Kish

doi:10.1111/add.15535

Impacts of Canada's cannabis legalization on police-reported crime among youth: early evidence

Russell C. Callaghan, Julia Vander Heiden, Marcos Sanches, Mark Asbridge, Andrew Hathaway, Stephen J. Kish

Medicine

Producción científica: Contribución a una revista › Artículo › revisión exhaustiva

23 Citas (Scopus)

Resumen

Aims: Canada's 2018 Cannabis Act allows youth (age 12–17 years) to possess up to 5 g of dried cannabis (or equivalent) for personal consumption/sharing. This study assessed whether the Cannabis Act was associated with changes in police-reported cannabis offences among youth in Canada. Design: Time series model using national daily criminal incident data from January 1, 2015–December 31, 2018 from the Canadian Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCR-2). Seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average time series models, stratified by sex, assessed the relations between legalization and youth cannabis-related offences. Setting: Canada, 2015–2018. Cases: Police-reported cannabis-related offenses among youth age 12–17 years (male, n = 32 178; female, n = 9001). Measurements: Outcomes: police-reported cannabis-related crimes, property crimes, and violent crimes. Covariate: calendar-month. Findings: For females, legalization was associated with a step-effect decrease of 4.56 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.32, 5.81; P < 0.001) police-reported cannabis-related criminal offences per day, an effect equivalent to a 64.6% (standard error [SE] = 33.5%) reduction. For males, legalization was associated with a drop of 12.73 (95% CI = 8.82, 16.64; P < 0.001) cannabis-related offences per day, equaling a decrease of 57.7% (SE = 22.6%). Results were inconclusive as to whether there were associations between cannabis legalization and patterns of property crimes or violent crimes. Conclusions: Implementation of the Cannabis Act in Canada in 2018 appears to have been associated with decreases of 55%–65% in cannabis-related crimes among male and female youth.

Idioma original	English
Páginas (desde-hasta)	3454-3462
Número de páginas	9
Publicación	Addiction
Volumen	116
N.º	12
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1111/add.15535
Estado	Published - dic. 2021

Nota bibliográfica

Funding Information:
This research was supported in part by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Catalyst Grant (Cannabis Research in Urgent Priority Areas, CU3–163011) awarded to the first author (R.C.C). The study team would like to thank Kathy AuCoin and Philip Walsh at the Statistics Canada Canadian Centre for Justice Studies for their support of the project.

Funding Information:
SARIMA models were applied to the whole sample of male and female police‐reported criminal‐incident series and, then, sex‐specific models were generated. The presentation of our primary results in the paper's tables and figures focuses on our findings from sex‐stratified SARIMA models, based on two overarching reasons. First, the current scientific literature continues to argue for the importance of assessing and identifying potential sex‐ and/or gender‐based effects associated with cannabis legalization [ 18 ]. Second, the current study was supported in part by a grant (CU3‐163011) from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to the lead author (R.C.C.), and CIHR champions and requires the integration of sex‐ and/or gender‐based analyses into all of its supported studies [ 19 ].

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Society for the Study of Addiction

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

Medicine (miscellaneous)
Psychiatry and Mental health

PubMed: MeSH publication types

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

ODS de las Naciones Unidas

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title = "Impacts of Canada's cannabis legalization on police-reported crime among youth: early evidence",

abstract = "Aims: Canada's 2018 Cannabis Act allows youth (age 12–17 years) to possess up to 5 g of dried cannabis (or equivalent) for personal consumption/sharing. This study assessed whether the Cannabis Act was associated with changes in police-reported cannabis offences among youth in Canada. Design: Time series model using national daily criminal incident data from January 1, 2015–December 31, 2018 from the Canadian Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCR-2). Seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average time series models, stratified by sex, assessed the relations between legalization and youth cannabis-related offences. Setting: Canada, 2015–2018. Cases: Police-reported cannabis-related offenses among youth age 12–17 years (male, n = 32 178; female, n = 9001). Measurements: Outcomes: police-reported cannabis-related crimes, property crimes, and violent crimes. Covariate: calendar-month. Findings: For females, legalization was associated with a step-effect decrease of 4.56 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.32, 5.81; P < 0.001) police-reported cannabis-related criminal offences per day, an effect equivalent to a 64.6% (standard error [SE] = 33.5%) reduction. For males, legalization was associated with a drop of 12.73 (95% CI = 8.82, 16.64; P < 0.001) cannabis-related offences per day, equaling a decrease of 57.7% (SE = 22.6%). Results were inconclusive as to whether there were associations between cannabis legalization and patterns of property crimes or violent crimes. Conclusions: Implementation of the Cannabis Act in Canada in 2018 appears to have been associated with decreases of 55%–65% in cannabis-related crimes among male and female youth.",

author = "Callaghan, {Russell C.} and {Vander Heiden}, Julia and Marcos Sanches and Mark Asbridge and Andrew Hathaway and Kish, {Stephen J.}",

note = "Funding Information: This research was supported in part by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Catalyst Grant (Cannabis Research in Urgent Priority Areas, CU3–163011) awarded to the first author (R.C.C). The study team would like to thank Kathy AuCoin and Philip Walsh at the Statistics Canada Canadian Centre for Justice Studies for their support of the project. Funding Information: SARIMA models were applied to the whole sample of male and female police‐reported criminal‐incident series and, then, sex‐specific models were generated. The presentation of our primary results in the paper's tables and figures focuses on our findings from sex‐stratified SARIMA models, based on two overarching reasons. First, the current scientific literature continues to argue for the importance of assessing and identifying potential sex‐ and/or gender‐based effects associated with cannabis legalization [ 18 ]. Second, the current study was supported in part by a grant (CU3‐163011) from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to the lead author (R.C.C.), and CIHR champions and requires the integration of sex‐ and/or gender‐based analyses into all of its supported studies [ 19 ]. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 Society for the Study of Addiction",

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doi = "10.1111/add.15535",

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AU - Callaghan, Russell C.

AU - Vander Heiden, Julia

AU - Sanches, Marcos

AU - Asbridge, Mark

AU - Hathaway, Andrew

AU - Kish, Stephen J.

N1 - Funding Information: This research was supported in part by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Catalyst Grant (Cannabis Research in Urgent Priority Areas, CU3–163011) awarded to the first author (R.C.C). The study team would like to thank Kathy AuCoin and Philip Walsh at the Statistics Canada Canadian Centre for Justice Studies for their support of the project. Funding Information: SARIMA models were applied to the whole sample of male and female police‐reported criminal‐incident series and, then, sex‐specific models were generated. The presentation of our primary results in the paper's tables and figures focuses on our findings from sex‐stratified SARIMA models, based on two overarching reasons. First, the current scientific literature continues to argue for the importance of assessing and identifying potential sex‐ and/or gender‐based effects associated with cannabis legalization [ 18 ]. Second, the current study was supported in part by a grant (CU3‐163011) from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to the lead author (R.C.C.), and CIHR champions and requires the integration of sex‐ and/or gender‐based analyses into all of its supported studies [ 19 ]. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Society for the Study of Addiction

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N2 - Aims: Canada's 2018 Cannabis Act allows youth (age 12–17 years) to possess up to 5 g of dried cannabis (or equivalent) for personal consumption/sharing. This study assessed whether the Cannabis Act was associated with changes in police-reported cannabis offences among youth in Canada. Design: Time series model using national daily criminal incident data from January 1, 2015–December 31, 2018 from the Canadian Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCR-2). Seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average time series models, stratified by sex, assessed the relations between legalization and youth cannabis-related offences. Setting: Canada, 2015–2018. Cases: Police-reported cannabis-related offenses among youth age 12–17 years (male, n = 32 178; female, n = 9001). Measurements: Outcomes: police-reported cannabis-related crimes, property crimes, and violent crimes. Covariate: calendar-month. Findings: For females, legalization was associated with a step-effect decrease of 4.56 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.32, 5.81; P < 0.001) police-reported cannabis-related criminal offences per day, an effect equivalent to a 64.6% (standard error [SE] = 33.5%) reduction. For males, legalization was associated with a drop of 12.73 (95% CI = 8.82, 16.64; P < 0.001) cannabis-related offences per day, equaling a decrease of 57.7% (SE = 22.6%). Results were inconclusive as to whether there were associations between cannabis legalization and patterns of property crimes or violent crimes. Conclusions: Implementation of the Cannabis Act in Canada in 2018 appears to have been associated with decreases of 55%–65% in cannabis-related crimes among male and female youth.

AB - Aims: Canada's 2018 Cannabis Act allows youth (age 12–17 years) to possess up to 5 g of dried cannabis (or equivalent) for personal consumption/sharing. This study assessed whether the Cannabis Act was associated with changes in police-reported cannabis offences among youth in Canada. Design: Time series model using national daily criminal incident data from January 1, 2015–December 31, 2018 from the Canadian Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCR-2). Seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average time series models, stratified by sex, assessed the relations between legalization and youth cannabis-related offences. Setting: Canada, 2015–2018. Cases: Police-reported cannabis-related offenses among youth age 12–17 years (male, n = 32 178; female, n = 9001). Measurements: Outcomes: police-reported cannabis-related crimes, property crimes, and violent crimes. Covariate: calendar-month. Findings: For females, legalization was associated with a step-effect decrease of 4.56 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.32, 5.81; P < 0.001) police-reported cannabis-related criminal offences per day, an effect equivalent to a 64.6% (standard error [SE] = 33.5%) reduction. For males, legalization was associated with a drop of 12.73 (95% CI = 8.82, 16.64; P < 0.001) cannabis-related offences per day, equaling a decrease of 57.7% (SE = 22.6%). Results were inconclusive as to whether there were associations between cannabis legalization and patterns of property crimes or violent crimes. Conclusions: Implementation of the Cannabis Act in Canada in 2018 appears to have been associated with decreases of 55%–65% in cannabis-related crimes among male and female youth.

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Impacts of Canada's cannabis legalization on police-reported crime among youth: early evidence

Resumen

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ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

PubMed: MeSH publication types

ODS de las Naciones Unidas

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